Marco Rubio invokes Richard Nixon, floats Donald Trump pardon
Marco Rubio. Image via AP.

marco-rubio
The Senator does not want an impeachment trial.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio staunchly opposes a second Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump and suggested the endgame Wednesday of disgraced President Richard Nixon as a model.

“I get it, hold the President accountable. Here’s the thing I would say. When Richard Nixon left office, Gerald Ford pardoned him. Now it was very controversial. It probably cost him the election, OK, and a lot of people ripped him apart.

“But I think years into the future, we all acknowledge that was the right decision because it was in the right interest of our country to move beyond that period of time,” Rubio said. “And I think that’s where we are now. Probably more so given the challenges we’re now facing.”

The Senator commented on the Fox News Radio Brian Kilmeade Show and noted that he hoped he could move Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on the question of impeachment.

“I’m making my views known. I’m doing it now on your program. I will express it to him directly,” Rubio said of McConnell.

Rubio suggested the prospect of impeachment may have been a bargaining chip “held until noon today for a little bit of leverage to prevent Trump from doing things he may have been thinking about doing.”

The delivery of documents would “immediately trigger a trial,” a fruitless endeavor, Rubio said.

“We have this raging fire already, and I just don’t think that when you have a fire that’s already pretty intense, the last thing you do is come in and pour more fuel on it,” Rubio suggested, a seeming nod to the fragile state of affairs just two weeks after pro-Trump rioters broke into the Capitol to derail the election certification vote.

Moving forward would “churn up some of these divisions at a time when we really need to put some of this stuff aside,” Rubio added.

“This is not a game. We inherited the greatest country in the history of the world, and it seems like we’re trying to ruin it on purpose. And I don’t get it.”

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has written for FloridaPolitics.com since 2014. He is based in Northeast Florida. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


8 comments

  • Sonja Fitch

    January 20, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    No one is above the law! The legacy of the goptrump death cult has to be made accountable! The leader Trump has to be tried as provided by in our Constitution!

  • Palmer Tom

    January 21, 2021 at 9:01 am

    Ford’s decision was correct, but there are differences. Nixon resigned and was not planning to come back. Trump has made so such pledge

  • LaVerne Romanik

    January 21, 2021 at 2:03 pm

    “Little Marco”, an opportunist of the worst kind is making an obvious play for the Trump misguided fan club. Hey, 75 million votes ain’t bad for a starter without spending a dime when you have the 2024 presidential race in your crosshairs.

  • Susan

    January 21, 2021 at 2:03 pm

    You dont impeach a president because he might run for office again. Impeachment was never intended for this purpose. He did the wrong thing lets leave it at that. Neither Biden or Trump will be able to get the votes to run again with age being one of the deciding factors.

  • SANDRA OLIVA

    January 21, 2021 at 2:51 pm

    HEAVENS, RUBIO….AFTER BEING “A DANGER TO OTHERS” (140 COVID VICTIMS NOW DEAD FOR LACK OF PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP OR EVEN HIS INTEREST!!!???) AND AT LEAST 12 CRIMES AGAINST AMERICA STILL PENDING RESOLUTION BY IMPRISONMENT….AND you just want all lawabiding citizens to just shut their eyes and welcome that inhumane back to Humanity????? AGAIN, YOU SHOW YOUR fatal INDECISION…by flip flopping. WE CIVILIZED AMERICANS easily recognize trump’s TREASONABLE BEHAVIOR AS CRIMINATL AND DEMAND DEMAND DEMAND THAT THE CULPABLE REPUBLICAN PARTY MUST MUST FIND HIM GUILTY OF CRIMES THAT STILL SHINE A RED LIGHT ON YOU WHINING REPUBLICANS. RUBIO: You came into office like an avenging angel! what REMAINS OF YOU , sadly, IS a wimpy , miserable publicity seeking, Never-PRESIDENT who is WILLING TO SWEAR TO ANYTHING THAT LOOKS LIKE TRUMP so that you can rise upon trump’s godforsaken body! YOU want to be seen as a reasoned trump defender, when what you are is a tarnished pattern of trump’s shadow, now without a LEG TO STAND ON. GET LOST MARCO! from an unloving constituent: please resign now before YOU get Trumped!

  • PeterH

    January 21, 2021 at 3:23 pm

    The Apples and oranges comparative comes to mind.

    Dear Marco,

    Republicans should have impeached Trump in January. There was plenty of concrete evidence.

  • Richard

    January 22, 2021 at 10:28 am

    Little Marco so sad you are helping the Trump organization yet again. Its like hitting a puppy they always come back tail between there legs. You should have bit him when he made a fool of you on national TV. I truly think your trying to keep his daughter from coming after your seat, take a note from Rudy they have no alliances. To be truthful I hope she does!!

  • DisplacedCTYankee

    January 22, 2021 at 12:15 pm

    The first time I voted, in 1972, I voted for George McGovern. Here I am coming up on 50 years and my record of never voting for a Republican is in tact.

    Nixon is remembered for having at least some redeeming qualities and did resign when pressed. Trump has no redeeming qualities. None.

Comments are closed.


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